A tenant who suffers a personal injury may be entitled to recover damages from their landlord. Tenant personal injuries are not only physical harm but may also include emotional harm. A tenant’s personal injury can happen in many ways: fire in the building, a fall on dilapidated steps, lead or mold exposure, carbon monoxide exposure, […] Read More
Should I file a wrongful eviction petition at the San Francisco Rent Board? Be careful. Wrongful eviction petitions are not what they seem. The San Francisco Rent Board has no power to stop eviction proceedings. Eviction lawsuits are resolved at the San Francisco Superior Court only. It is the rare case when a tenant would […] Read More
In 2016, the City of Alameda’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance was put into effect. The ordinance is not as comprehensive as the City of San Francisco or the City of Oakland’s, but it is an essential step towards combating the continual increase in housing costs and the displacement of the city’s most vulnerable. While Alameda’s ordinance […] Read More
HAYWARD RESIDENTIAL RENT STABILIZATION ORDINANCE Under the Hayward Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance, a landlord can only raise the rent a certain percentage each year and can only evict a tenant for one of the just-cause reasons enumerated in the law. While the ordinance covers most residential rental properties, tenants should make sure that the unit […] Read More
San Francisco tenant attorneys and affordable housing advocates work tirelessly to prevent vulnerable households and residents from slipping into homelessness due to the numerous evictions that get carried out daily by landlords wanting to take advantage of high-market rents. The lack of affordable housing in the City is a problem that has to be addressed […] Read More
Tenants are entitled to exclusive possession of the premises they rent, even to the exclusion of the landlord. Owners, landlords, property managers, or the landlord’s agents cannot simply enter a tenant’s unit anytime they please and for any reason. Tenants should be aware that the State of California has limited permissible reasons for landlords to […] Read More
Housing discrimination takes place when an individual or a group is treated adversely based on a legally protected characteristic such as their race, sex, religion, familial status, or disability. Housing discrimination is illegal and contributes to the inequity in the quality of housing a person can obtain. Although discrimination is illegal, many landlords continue to […] Read More
What is an illegal, unwarranted, non-conforming, or unpermitted unit? Illegal units are dwellings that do not have the required Certificate of Occupancy, which is a document that certifies that a residential building complies with all state and local building codes and is safe to live in. An illegal unit is also sometimes referred to as […] Read More
Landlords have a duty to take reasonable measures to protect their tenants from foreseeable crime on their properties. Landlords have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect tenants from the foreseeable criminal acts of another. CAL. CIV. CODE § 1714. Criminal acts can include conduct such as assault, battery, robbery, murder, rape, drug abuse, […] Read More
The City of Richmond has a rent increase limitation ordinance (“Richmond Rent Control”), which caps the annual amount a landlord can increase rent, and a just cause eviction ordinance (“Richmond Eviction Control”), which protects tenants from eviction absent one of the enumerated just causes for eviction. RICHMOND, CAL., MUN. CODE. art. XI, § 11.100 et […] Read More